When They Had Already Written Her Off, She Suddenly Did Something Magical…

You’ve probably heard how important it is to make a good first impression. That first impact we have on others determines the image they will have of us, and their idea of ​​who we are. However, this first impression can also lead us astray.

Psychologists at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) and Princeton University (USA) have shown that simply saying ‘hello’ can be enough to make up some sense of this person’s personality type.

How often have you had a first impression of someone that later didn’t match reality at all? We can never fully trust our first impressions, because we base these impressions on small elements, in order to get a picture of the person in front of us. However, let’s not forget that we don’t really know this person at all, and that he might just surprise us.

The first impression and prejudices

We form a positive or negative opinion about someone based on a first impression. The way they walk, the way they talk, the gestures they make can give us all hints about how their personalities might be. This allows us to adopt different attitudes, from an accepting or rejecting attitude, to an indifferent attitude.

However, these first ideas we have about someone also have a lot to do with our prejudices. Our prejudices can cause the most problems, as we will try to confirm the image we formed in the first place.

This situation usually arises when we are dealing with someone we don’t know yet, but about whom we have heard a few things. Even if we refuse to accept this, we have already formed a picture of this person in our own head based on the opinions of others. In this case, it is very important not to get carried away by the opinions of others and to try to form your own.

According to Alexander Todorov, it takes only forty milliseconds to form an opinion about a stranger. As you can see, the biggest problem with first impressions and biases is that we form quick, anticipatory opinions about someone we don’t actually know. If this is so obviously the problem, why don’t we try to fix it? Why not be a little more patient before trying to define someone the wrong way? Because we are conditioned.

Our first impression will always be closely linked to our prejudices, whether this is because we have already heard a lot about the person in front of us, or because we are convinced of certain general prejudices that blind us at that first moment. Some examples might be ‘all blondes are stupid’ or ‘all men who have feminine features are gay’.

Our first impression is formed so quickly that in a moment that is even shorter than a moment, we ‘gather’ a lot of information about this individual. So what would happen if we gave ourselves a little more time to form an opinion? After all, patience is a virtue.

The wrong thing about first impressions

It seems that no one can be free from this tendency to form first impressions. However, this mechanism, which kicks in automatically, is at the root of much of the mistakes we make when it comes to judging someone else.

When we jump to conclusions and make judgments, it may be because we never ended up in an unfair situation ourselves as a result of first impressions. That’s why we offer you the opportunity to watch a video that shows very clearly how gross the mistake we make is when we judge someone way too quickly.

In this video we see Corinne Sutter, an artist who participated in a talent show. We can watch her make a painting while the jury looks on disgruntled. It seems like they don’t exactly like what she’s creating, so they push the red button one by one and she eventually has to stop.

It’s true that the painting may seem a little odd at first, but if you’re patient enough, you’ll find yourself getting more and more curious about how she’ll finish it. The members of the jury didn’t give her enough time for this, they didn’t feel the need to wait… what they didn’t know is that Corinne would leave them speechless.

This video shows very clearly that a first impression is not always correct, and that real reality can be a real slap in the face. The public thought Corinne’s work was worthy of a standing ovation, but we don’t know whether her tears came from joy or powerlessness.

Have you ever been the victim of a false first impression? How many times have you made a judgment about someone that turned out to be completely wrong? Give others the chance to show you what they really are; don’t get ahead of yourself by misrepresenting their personality.